Ahmedabad: Gujarat Titans (GT) would solely look to capitalize on what they have been doing in the past two matches while riding high on confidence, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team would make sure that the win against a high-caliber Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) side was not a one-off victory as the two teams take on in what promises to be a high voltage contest on Sunday.
Gujarat Titans have well and truly played like a champion side if their first two matches are anything to go by. GT's opener against Chennai Super Kings had Shubman Gill's name written all over. He scored 63 runs from 36 balls -- a testament to his imperious form and flawless batting. The second match of Gujarat had another hero in Sai Sudarshan, who smashed 48-ball 62 against Delhi Capitals.
With the young guns taking on the IPL sides all by themselves and combine with the experienced campaigners in bowling department -- Mohammed Shami and skipper Hardik Pandya along with the artistry of spinner Rashid Khan, KKR would find the going tough in emulating their last victory.
Read: IPL 2023: Openers set tone as RR hammer DC by 57 runs
Gill perhaps needs a special mention, whose form has got him a skyrocketing success in the recent past with centuries in all three formats of the game. With Wriddhiman Saha, he can decimate any team right from the onset and provide a powerplay advantage to his team.
The revelation of Sudarshan has been another highlight for the team and he comes having played in just seven first-class games with two centuries to his name for Tamil Nadu. And IPL provides him with the perfect stage to perform in front of a packed crowd.
Rahul Tewatia has been continuing to do what he does best. His sixes. Rashid too has shown how he can be handy with his bat while David Miller's 31 runs off 16 balls provides solidity to the Gujarat side.
Even as Gujarat has a powerful bowling attack with Mohammad Shami being the leading wicket-taker along with crafty Rashid and effective Alzarri Joseph, an area of concern would be leaking too many runs in the powerplay overs.
Contrarily, KKR would find themselves in a conundrum with Jason Roy coming into the picture that will provide a boost to the side that lost their skipper Shreyas Iyer to injury and Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, who pulled out due to personal commitments. KKR might suffer the headache of including Roy in a set-up where Afghan wicket-keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz has performed well at the top.
Against Punjab Kings, Gurbaz's useful 22 runs went in vain as KKR lost that match by seven runs via DLS method. However, the 21-year-old repeated from where he had left and scored half century along with Shardul Thakur's belligerent knock that allowed KKR to reach the 200 runs mark. Despite this, KKR might make way to experienced and a match-winner Roy in place of Gurbaz.
The deficit of 81 runs, a margin by which the KKR defeated RCB that showcased a whirlwind knock by Thakur along with Delhi's young man Suyansh Sharma, who clinched 3 wickets, conceding just 30 runs and KKR's bowlers -- Varun Chakravarthy 4-15 and the artistry of Sunil Narine will provide confidence and they have ample fodder to go into the match to beat their opponents.
Squads:
Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (c), Srikar Bharat, Alzarri Joseph, Josh Little, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Mohammed Shami, Darshan Nalkande, Noor Ahmad, Urvil Patel, Rashid Khan, Wriddhiman Saha, R Sai Kishore, Sai Sudharsan, Pradeep Sangwan, Dasun Shanaka, Vijay Shankar, Mohit Sharma, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Odean Smith, Rahul Tewatia, Matthew Wade, Jayant Yadav, Yash Dayal.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Nitish Rana (c), Vaibhav Arora, Lockie Ferguson, Harshit Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Narayan Jagadeesan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das, Mandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Jason Roy, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Tim Southee, Suyash Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, David Wiese, Umesh Yadav.
Match starts at 3:30 PM.
